Titleless
by DarkMasterofCupcakes
Summary: Years after the events of the movie, something happens between Lock and Shock. Something that he can't remember but will haunt her forever. Especially because of what results. Rated mainly for prolouge. LockXShock. FINISHED!
1. Prolouge

In the eighteen years she'd lived in Halloweentown, Shock had never been through anything like this.

Nothing had ever made her feel this way.

She prided herself in being emotionally firm, rarely showing fear, even to herself, no matter what she went through.

But this could very well change that. What could make a normally level-headed young witch feel frightened and disturbed?

Well, she did have a fear of flying, which was the main reason she never bothered learning how to ride a broomstick. However, it wasn't this fear from her childhood that made her shake at the thought of it.

It was something that happened only three nights ago.

Three nights ago, Shock was raped.

The thought of the event was bad enough, but what made it worse was who did it to her. Being raped was bad enough, but to be raped by one of her closest friends was almost completely traumatizing.

She wanted to wipe the memory from her mind, but found she just couldn't.

The event was so surreal and terrifying, even for this world, that she almost thought it was a dream.

No, not a dream, a nightmare.

* * *

Shock had just been lying in bed, reading a magic book, when she heard the door open.

In the doorway was Lock, just standing there, not speaking.

Shock questioned her comrade about what he wanted, but he didn't answer.

Instead, he closed the door behind him, and walked over to her bed. He then got onto the mattress, lying next to her, his body pressed up against hers.

She remembered her face burning from a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure.

The heat got more intense as the devil boy began planting kisses down her neck.

The pleasure quickly turned to fear, however, when she felt cool hands on the skin of her stomach. She tried to get Lock to stop it, finding herself stuttering.

She felt her heart stop as he flipped her onto her back, pinning her hands beneath the weight of her body. This made it pretty much impossible for Shock to use her magic, meaning she lost one major way to defend herself.

But, it wasn't the feeling of semi-helplessness that made her feel sick.

It was the look in Lock's eyes. He didn't look like he was regretting this; he didn't even look like he was enjoying it. It looked like he was in a trance, like he didn't even know what he was doing. It was like a robot made for porn.

Shock felt her heartbeat start to race as Lock literally tore her thin purple nightgown from her body with his teeth.

He then used his flexible, but strong tail to remove her panties, while he planted rough kisses onto her breasts, his sharp teeth sometimes digging into the sensitive skin.

Shock had never felt fear or pain like this before, and doubted she'd ever feel anything worse.

She thought wrong.

Only seconds later, Lock had managed to remove her panties and stuck his finger into her, clearly not bothering to even try to keep from hurting her.

If the situation were different, maybe she would enjoy the actions. But, as it was, she just wanted it to end, for this to be the worst of it.

Unfortunately, whoever controlled the amount of pain and suffering a person endured for a day decided she hadn't reached the day's quota.

Without her even seeing, the devil had pulled down his pants and boxers just enough to make it clear what he was going to do.

Shock glanced at it for a brief second, but her focus was quickly fixated on Lock's face.

His lips were set in a thin line; his eyes seemed completely dead.

Even as he entered her body and began the rhythmic pounding of the young witch, she kept her eyes locked onto his, trying to find some answer in the dead-looking yellow and red orbs.

She lost track of time; it all seemed to melt together in a mixture of fear, pain, lust, and confusion.

When it was all over, however, she remembered Lock placing the black comforter over her naked body, muttering the word "Sorry", in a flat voice before leaving the room, perhaps to shower and remove the scent of his female companion from his own body.

* * *

Shock tried to confront Lock about the assault the next day, while Barrel was still out of the tree house.

She tried to hint and the event, asking why he'd bothered to cover her up before he left.

Lock just looked confused, claiming he hadn't gone into his room the previous night.

There was no hint that he was simply denying it; Shock knew the boys well enough to know when they were lying and when they were being truthful.

This time, the red-head was telling the truth. Or, he believed he was telling the truth. But, how?

How could someone rape their closest friend, the person whom they'd spent five years of their life and eighteen years of the afterlife, and not remember it?

* * *

Before anyone asks, don't be angry at Lock for this. There's a reason he seemed like a zombie during the whole event.

Ages for Lock, Shock, and Barrel in this story:

Lock: 25  
Shock: 23  
Barrel: 21 1/2

Nightmare Before Christmas/Characters (C) Tim Burton, Disney, Henry Selick

Story, Original Characters (Me)

EDIT: Yeah, I decided to edit this a little bit to hopefully avoid having it removed from the site because apparently is removing stories with graphic sex and/or graphic violence, and since I have no idea what counts as graphic to whoever is removing the stories, and I can't exactly take out this chapter or the references to rape (since the main point of the story involves the sexual assault), I just decided to try and make it not too graphic, but still make it clear to anyone who is old enough to understand what's going on.


	2. Shock of a Lifetime

"I'm bored" Barrel moaned, accidently whacking himself in the head with his black and orange lollipop.

Lock laughed as the youngest of the trio yanked on the piece of sticky candy, which had stuck to his hair. Even as young adults, the boys still enjoyed seeing each other in painful situations.

Shock, meanwhile, just watched Barrel yank at the lollipop while the devil snickered at his misery.

All three of them had changed from the days of working with Oogie Boogie. They'd all grown taller, of course, but that wasn't the only difference in the trio.

Lock and Barrel had probably changed the least out of the three, but seeing how boys don't usually have the "physical" changes that girls go through during puberty, that wasn't too strange.

The devil had grown quite a bit taller; he had finally grown taller than Shock in the past few months. He wasn't what most people would call well-built, but he was far from scrawny. Rather, he was almost covered in lean muscle. His hair was still styled in its signature style, though the back had grown slightly---very slightly. He still wore an altered version of his childhood costume sometimes, but for the most part he simply wore a red shirt, black jeans, and black and red shoes. His tail had also grown stronger, and he'd gained more control over it.

Barrel had also grown taller, though he was still the shortest of the three. The blue-green hair on his grey-skinned head was no different from when he was five and a half. The biggest change in the corpse-boy's physique was actually in his stomach. Gone was the potbelly of his childhood. Now, while he wasn't exactly skinny, he wasn't overweight either. Like Lock, Barrel would sometimes wear an adult-version of the skeleton costume of his childhood. Also like his older male companion, he more commonly wore an outfit that would be considered "normal" by some people's standards. He wore a dirty white shirt under a black sweater that had patterns of bones on it, blue pants that were just as dirty as the pants, and he usually walked around barefoot, meaning the soles of his feet were often dirt-encrusted.

Shock had changed the most out of the three. She had grown into her nose and developed curves that made her look rather attractive. Her dark purple hair had thickened, though it was still as tangled and messy as when she was a little girl. She still wore a tall witch's hat on most occasions, but for the most part, she had replaced her baggy lavender dress with a more form-fitting dress in a darker shade of purple. She also wore black and white striped stocking and black boots.

Like Barrel, the most obvious change was to her stomach, though for Shock, it was a more recent development. She had gained nearly twenty pounds in the past eight months, something Lock often teased her about, saying she should back off on the chocolates.

Shock and Lock had been dating for two weeks at this point.

At first, she was very hesitant to start a romantic relationship with him, due to remembering the time he'd raped her months earlier.

However, Lock had won her over by being very insistent, not taking no for an answer.

That wasn't to say he tried to force her to date him; he just continued to ask her until she finally accepted.

Shock still felt somewhat uneasy whenever she was around Lock, often glancing at his eyes to see if that dead look returned to them.

But, there never seemed to be a change in the devil that would indicate a rerun of that horrid night that only she could recall.

Once Barrel finally removed his lollipop from his head, he repeated his complaint of boredom.

"I heard the Mayor is opening a new movie theater…" Lock began with a smirk, showing off sharp teeth behind his blue lips.

Barrel returned the smirk, getting what his cohort was getting at.

The two of them glanced at Shock, silently asking if she was in for the "outing".

The witch, however, just shook her head. "I'm feeling kinda sick. You guys go ahead…I'll either meet you in a bit or see you later" she told her, waving her hand slightly as if to dismiss the boys.

They frowned slightly, not pleased at having to torture the mayor of Halloweentown without their strategist.

After a moment, they did stand up and leave, grabbing their slingshots from a hook on the door before exiting the tree house.

* * *

Not long after Lock and Barrel left, Shock found herself experiencing sharp pains in her lower back.

She tried to ignore them, hoping they would just go away on their own. Ten minutes passed, and the pain didn't go away.

In fact, it got more intense.

Thinking her pain was just from cramping in that area; Shock saw no reason to seek medical help.

She simply went into the bathroom and took a couple painkillers.

The pills didn't remove the pain, but it was lessened.

Shock decided that having the edge off was good enough for her, and went back into the living room, thinking that taking a short nap would get rid of the remainder of the pain. She lay on the couch, and got about an hour of uneasy sleep, being woken every five minutes from strange pains in her abdomen.

She found the cramps unusual, but nothing to worry about.

At the end of the hour, however, she was struck by another cramp; this one lower and stronger than all the others, accompanied by a gush of liquid.

Believing the liquid was urine, the witch walked to her room, a rather difficult feat with the now constant pains in her back and stomach.

She managed to get into her room and close the door, when she was struck by another cramp.

This one nearly doubled Shock over.

Deciding enough was enough, she walked to her bedside table, on which sat a cordless telephone. Shock grabbed the phone and was about to dial the emergency service when she felt another pain in her lower body.

This wasn't just a cramp, however. She could feel something tearing away from her; something was coming out of her body and none too gently.

Curious, and also fearful about what was happening, Shock lowered herself to the floor and removed her panties, feeling the area to see if she could tell what was causing her pain.

She couldn't indentify the strange lump that was coming out of her; she could only tell that it was oddly soft and seemed to have hair or something growing out of it.

She dropped the phone next to her, opting instead to clutch the black comforter that hung off her bed as another sharp intense pain cut through her.

Whenever the pains cut into her body, Shock noticed the strange little bulge between her legs moved slightly. Using this discovery as "evidence", the witch realized that when this thing, whatever it was, got out, the pain would stop.

After realizing this, she began trying to fight against the cramps, screaming as she pushed against the pains. She continued this way for fifteen minutes, when suddenly she felt something slide out of her and the pain was gone.

Shock leaned against the bed, breathing heavily as she stared up at the ceiling.

As her breathing evened out, she decided to look and see exactly what had been the cause of her pain for the past nearly two hours.

The witch leaned over and felt her heart stop.

Lying on the floor, still connected to Shock by a strange, fleshy tether was a bloody, silent baby.

Shock stared at the baby, too stunned to make a sound or movement.

After what seemed like hours, she finally got control over herself.

Her first instinct was to grab the baby and hold it close to her.

There was still some pain in the area between her legs, which made picking the newborn up a bit difficult.

She held the baby close to her chest, feeling panicked when she realized it wasn't crying or moving at all. In fact, the baby seemed completely lifeless.

Thankfully, Shock didn't panic enough for her brain to go blank. She grabbed the dropped phone with her free hand and dialed 911, being greeted with the voice of one of the monsters seconds later.

_"Hello. What is your emergency?"_

"I don't know what's wrong with it. It's not breathing." Shock found herself gasping into the receiver of the phone, feeling her throat tense up from emotional stress.

_"Ma'am, calm down. You said someone wasn't breathing. Who's not breathing? Can you tell me?"_

"The baby….I just had it. I didn't know…" the witch tried to explain. She couldn't believe how difficult it was to give information to someone who was supposed to help her. Maybe her mind was a bit fuzzy after all.

_"Paramedics are on the way, ma'am. Just follow my instructions and we'll see if we can get your baby breathing before they arrive. Try and clear out any obstructions of the baby's mouth"._

Not even feeling in control of her body anymore, Shock pulled a small handkerchief from the drawer in her side table. She used the soft fabric to wipe some sticky substance from the inside of the newborn's mouth. However, even with the goo removed from its mouth, baby still seemed lifeless.

_"If that doesn't work, trying massaging the area around the baby's chest. Not to hard, now"._

Now almost desperate, the witch took the advice from the woman on the other line.

She began massaging the baby's chest, not sure if she was even doing it right.

She continued this way for two minutes before she finally heard a soft whimper come from the tiny infant in her arms.

It was at this exact moment that the door was opened and three Frankenstein's monsters came into the room.

Two of them went straight over to Shock, one grabbing the baby and wrapping it in a silver blanket, the other using what looking like hooked scissors to cut the umbilical cord.

The last of the three had his coworkers place the young witch onto a stretcher, which they rolled into an older broken down ambulance. She pleaded to the paramedics to hand her the baby, but the just ignored her request.

* * *

They arrived at the hospital ten minutes later. Shock was quickly admitted to a room, where a doctor delivered the placenta and stitched her up.

Both events were somewhat painful, but still on her mind was the newborn she didn't even know she'd been pregnant with.

The baby had been taken away to be examined the moment they entered the hospital.

The doctors had been quick to take the baby away to see if anything was wrong. They seemed somewhat worried when they saw the newborn, and that scared her.

* * *

Here's the first part of the first real chapter of this story. Once again given a mature rating just to be safe. If enough people tell me it's not needed, I will remove it.

Nightmare Before Christmas and all characters from it (C) Tim Burton, Disney/Touchstone pictures, Henry Selick

Plot and all my OCs (C) Me


	3. Questioning

The boys arrived back at the tree house two hours after they had departed.

For them, it had been a very eventful evening.

They had knocked the Mayor down the spiraling hill and into the twisted forest, where he'd gotten stuck in one of the trees.

They had caused a pile-up of witches and tangled up the mummies, including Eye-Clops and his young daughter.

But, best of all, they had convinced a couple of the Skellington kids to help them set fire to the hanging skeletons.

They knew they would be dead when Jack discovered that they had caused the destruction, but they didn't care.

The credo of the trick-or-treaters was punishment was usually worth it, as long as what you're being punished for was funny.

Besides, it wasn't like anyone was really hurt by the antics of the devil and the corpse; the hanging skeletons were apparently fireproof, seeing how they'd been set aflame millions of times prior to this.

Still, they had decided that they'd caused enough mayhem for an afternoon (maybe they'd go out again at night to cause more trouble), and returned home.

Of course, they weren't expecting to find the place completely silent when they returned.

They had expected Shock to join them shortly after they left, so they were a bit worried when she didn't show up.

However, they quickly put their concerns aside, thinking she was just still asleep at the tree house.

So, when they reached the tree house, they went inside and decided to check on Shock. Not that she needed checking-up on; they just wanted to make sure she was okay.

Her bedroom door was open, so they just walked inside. They expected to just find Shock lying in her bed, maybe eating some of those peanut-butter and caramel chocolates she had gotten addicted to in the past few months.

What they didn't expect to find was the room completely empty, blood on the floor next to the witch's bed.

It looked like a murder scene; there was so much blood. In fact, it looked _too much_ like a murder scene for Lock and Barrel.

Seeing how everyone in Halloweentown was nearly immortal (most of them were dead to begin with), maybe their fear was unwarranted.

But, even if they couldn't die, they could still be badly injured, and that was still bad.

Considering the fact that Shock was nowhere in the tree house, it didn't take the boys long to figure out that she would be at the hospital.

* * *

It didn't take them long at all to reach the hospital, partly because they were in a bit of a rush, and partly because Halloweentown wasn't that big of a place to begin with.

There they were greeted by a thin vampire with bloodstained lips. She gave them a smile, which was supposed to be friendly, but due to the fangs, seemed somewhat menacing.

"'Ello boys" she greeted with a slight British accent, "'Ow can I 'elp you?"

The two didn't return the vampire's greeting, instead wanting to get right to the chase.

"We're looking for Shock. Can you tell us where she is?" Lock asked, sounding somewhat demanding.

The blood-sucking receptionist seemed to think for a moment, muttering Shock's name before wondering aloud, "Is she the one with the baby?"

Barrel and Lock shook their heads; they weren't sure what Shock had come to the hospital for, but they knew it had nothing to do with a baby.

The girl just smiled slightly and motioned to another hospital worker, this one a male zombie. (AN: I don't think it's very sanitary for zombies to be working in hospitals. I mean, what if their limbs fall inside the patients during surgeries?).

"Be a dear and take these two to go see Shock" the vampire told her coworker, waving him off with a little smile.

The zombie just gave a grunt and nodded, grabbing Lock and Barrel by the wrists and practically dragging them through the halls of the hospital.

The halls were littered with patients who apparently didn't want to stay in their rooms. Lock accidently stomped on the face of a small gargoyle who had apparently decided the middle of the hallway was the perfect place for a nap.

Despite running over about a half-dozen different monsters, the three of them finally made it to the room where Shock apparently was being held.

The zombie just grunted at the corpse and devil before walking off.

The two young men stood outside the room for a second, before knocking on the door.

"Come in?" came the voice of the purple-haired witch from the other side of the door. She sounded a bit hesitant, like she wasn't sure if she really wanted someone to come into her room.

Lock grabbed the doorknob and turned it, opening the door and letting himself inside. Barrel followed suit.

"What are you guys doing here?" Shock asked from a hospital bed pushed up against the far wall.

The boys looked over to her, eager to see how their close friend and cohort was doing.

For the amount of blood they'd seen on her bedroom floor, she didn't look as bad as they had expected.

She seemed a bit paler than usual, and there was a plastic tube inserted into her arm, which appeared to be feeding her blood from a plastic bag.

But, for the most part, she just looked tired. It looked like she had been sweating recently; there was a slight gleam on her brow. She was also breathing kind of slow and heavy, like she was desperate to catch her breath.

"Hey" Barrel said with a grin, walking over to his friend's bed. "How are you doing, Shock?"

The witch smiled, albeit somewhat weakly. "I'm fine. Just really tired".

The devil leaned against the wall next to the head of the bed. He remained silent for a moment before saying the main thing that was on his mind.

"The lady out at the front desk said something about a baby…." the devil began, letting the sentence run off as if telling Shock to figure out what he was asking for herself.

The witch seemed to blanch, her face becoming paler then it already was. "Yeah….about that…."

She seemed ready to explain, when suddenly the door was opened and in stepped a blonde vampire girl pushing something into the room.

"Here you go, ma'am. Sorry it took so long to get him to you, but the doctor wanted to make sure both mother and baby were alright. You lost a bit more blood then we would have liked to see, and the little creep was born about a month early, so he's a wee bit small, but other than that, everything's fine. Well, I'll be going now. Just call if you need anything" the young woman said before leaving just as soon as she had arrived.

And, as soon as she left, Lock and Barrel's curiosity was peaked.

She _did_ say something about a baby, right?

If two people who worked at the hospital were talking about or to Shock about a baby, it had to mean something.

So, they walked over to the thing the vampire blondie had wheeled into the room. And, they were pretty much taken aback by what they found.

Lying in the small glass bassinet was indeed a baby boy wrapped in a green blanket and dress in what appeared to be black and green striped footed pajamas…a baby boy that looked quite a bit like Shock.

His skin was pale green and the small amount of hair on his head was violet, just like the witch's. There was definitely no way to deny that this baby was Shock's, no matter how strange it seemed.

How could Shock have had a baby?

Last time Lock and Barrel had seen the witch, she did not look pregnant, much less about to actually give birth!

But, that wasn't what bothered Lock the most about the whole event.

There was something about the newborn that made him feel…weird, and he had no idea what it was.

He looked more closely at the child.

The hair on the boy's head stood up in what appeared to be horns….and when he opened his eyes to reveal the bright purple irises, he also revealed yellow "whites".

The devil-boy was certain that his heart was going to beat out of his chest.

He tried to keep his mind clear, while at the same time silently trying to deny any suspicions he had concerning the baby's paternity.

However, denial meant almost nothing when something caught his eye. Next to the baby boy's head was the spade at the end of a violet devil's tail….just like Lock's, only colored differently.

In Lock's mind, he had been trying to deny what he kind of already knew to be true.

But, as soon as he saw that Shock's son had a tail…he knew he couldn't deny it anymore. He turned to his girlfriend with an almost ill look on his face, like he was going to be sick.

Barrel also turned to look at Shock, with a slightly nervous smile on his face.

"So….looks like you've got a baby".

Shock nodded slightly, apparently answering Barrel's question, but looking straight at Lock.

"Yeah. We have a baby" she said softly, her voice low.

Lock, normally fairly well-put together, felt the blood rush to his head.

He glanced at Shock, who now seemed to be avoiding eye contact at all cost, and then at her baby (their baby?) before excusing himself to the room.

As soon as he was out of the room, Lock went into the restroom.

He was grateful that it was empty, because he did not want anyone to see him in this state.

There were no mirrors that were clean enough to see your reflection, but if he looked as bad as he felt, he looked like shit.

How the hell did he get Shock pregnant? He didn't even remember sleeping with her! Even if he had been drunk when it happened, should he remember something?

He wanted some answers….but who could give him those answers?

* * *

Next chapter will reveal the baby's name, as well as the names of the Skellington kids....and we'll get a clue as to what caused all of this.

And, yes....Eye-Clops is the one-eyed mummy from the movie. He has a toddler daughter, and is a single father.

Nightmare Before Christmas and it's characters (C) Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Touchstone Pictures

Plot and Original Characters (C) Me


	4. Introductions

"I still don't get why I have to stay here for four days. I feel fine" Shock asked the nurse, wincing slightly as the needle pricked her skin. It didn't hurt, but she had to admit it stung like a bitch.

The vampire just licked her already moist lips once, and then threw away the needle used for the shot. She then answered the witch's question.

"We just want to make sure you're okay. Both of you."

She glanced at the baby, who was sleeping soundly in the glass bassinet the hospital provided. Turning back to Shock, she asked what the witch was planning to name her son.

"Umm…Creep. Just Creep, considering neither me nor the father actually has a last name" the witch answered, her response almost sounding like a question.

Of course, she had been lying about her and Lock not having last names. But, they hadn't used them in many years, so it was as good as not having them at all.

The nurse looked a bit confused, and then nodded, walking away and leaving Shock alone with Creep.

The purple haired witch walked over to the slumbering newborn, just watching him for several minutes.

He had been born about half a week ago, and she still couldn't believe anything surrounding his birth.

How she hadn't known she was pregnant, even considering the weight gain and cravings for chocolates she'd had for eight months. How she'd given birth to the five pound, thirteen ounce baby boy on her dirty bedroom floor, endangering both their (after)lives. And, most of all, how she actually had a baby, a son, with Lock.

They had only been dating for two weeks by the time the baby was born, and yet they had a baby together.

It should have been happy for Shock, but it wasn't.

Well, it would be a happy occasion, if not for one thing that haunted the back of her mind.

She knew how Creep had been conceived…a night that she would never forget, but Lock didn't seem to recall.

Her thoughts were brought away by what sounded like a dog's squeaky toy being strangled.

"You're hungry, aren't you?" Shock asked the source of the strange noise, which also went by the name of Creep.

The newborn obviously didn't answer, but the witch took the continuation of the crying as a yes.

She picked up the baby, and then walked over to her bed. On the small table next to her bed were bottles of ready made formula.

The nurses had tried to convince her to breastfeed, but Shock refused.

She was already sore enough; she didn't need a baby biting onto her tits, even if he didn't have teeth yet.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Shock grabbed a bottle and popped it into Creep's mouth.

The crying was silenced instantly as the four-day-old infant sucked on the bottle.

Once the bottle was empty, Shock pulled it out of his mouth and put it back on the table.

The baby burped slightly, thankfully not spitting up any of the formula he'd just ingested.

The witch stood up, grabbing the small green blanket the hospital had given her when her son was born.

Considering the coolness of late November, and the fact that she would be walking to the tree house, Shock figured she'd be wise to take it.

She wrapped the now sleeping infant in the blanket, getting a small whine of protest when she positioned him to make the swaddling easier.

The end result wasn't exactly was she was looking for, but it would do the job just fine.

Placing the tightly wrapped boy on the bed, the witch grabbed her coat, black cashmere with dark violet trim. It had been her favorite for years now, and she was grateful that Lock and Barrel had brought it over to the hospital.

After signing some papers that the hag receptionist had for her (Shock had no idea what the papers were for, she just signed them because she wanted to leave), the witch left the dreary hospital, with Creep asleep in her arms, and started to make her way towards the old tree house that Boogie's Boys made their home.

She passed by Skellington Manor on her way, nearly getting run over by three of Jack and Sally's children, who were being chased by their eldest sister.

Abigail Skellington was a fourteen year old ragdoll with skin made of white cloth, but despite this, she resembled her father more than most of her younger siblings. Her eye sockets were empty, and she kept her red hair tied back in a bun at the top of her head. She was tall and skinny, her arms and legs extremely long. In spite of the cold weather, Abigail wore her usual attire of a black dress with a white sash and trim, and black knee high boots.

Shaking her thin fist in the hair, she shouted at her three younger brothers and sister.

"Mary Lenore! John! William! I swear you three are the most immature brats in all of Halloweentown!"

This insult garnered only brief glances from Mary and the twin boys.

Mary Lenore, or Mary, as she preferred, was the youngest of Jack and Sally's daughters.

She was the closest to Abigail in age, being only about fifteen months younger, at the age of twelve and a half. But, their closeness ended at their ages. Mary's skin was blue-grey, like Sally's, and her short hair was black, a trait presumably inherited from the Pumpkin King.

She had stitches around her knees and elbows, though neither were visible at the moment. A blush of pink cloth was sewn into her cheeks, and she had a smile of stitches.

Mary wore a dirty grey coat and black jeans with grey shoes. On her head was a grey and black knit cap.

While the girls began to argue about being childish and the like, the boys had apparently noticed Shock.

"Hey, Shock" said John, lifting his bony hand in greeting as he and his twin walked towards her.

William, or Billy as he was called by everyone except Abigail, turned his grey eyes downward and raised an eyebrow.

"When'd you have a baby?" he questioned the witch.

Unlike most of the Skellington children, Billy didn't have much that made it clear that he was a creature of Halloween, excepting his blue-grey skin. He didn't have empty eye-sockets or stitching, save for a "scar" running down his face. His red hair stood up in a stiff mohawk and he wore a long sleeved white shirt, grey sweater-vest, and grey sweatpants with black dress shoes.

"Idiot" said John, smacking his younger brother on the back of the head, "Considering we haven't seen the baby yet, and we saw Shock about four days ago, the baby must be around four days old. Duh, Billy-Al."

John was the oldest boy of Jack and Sally's five children, as well as the only skeleton.

Like his twin, he also had a mohawk, the only difference was his was black and red, falling over his left eye. He had only one eye, his left, which was grey. His right eye socket was empty, like both of Abigail's. John wore a leather jacket, blue jeans, a black belt, and black boots. Underneath his zipped up jacket was a red shirt with a picture of a flaming skull on it. Due to being the eldest son of the Pumpkin King, John would take over once Jack decided to step down.

An icy wind blew past at that moment, causing them all to shiver.

Sally's voice came from the upper level of the manor, calling her elder children inside.

The boys instantly raced towards the building, but Abigail and Mary continued to argue.

Shock, not really interested in the argument, was simply grateful that the ten-year-old boys were no longer blocking her path.

She once again began walking, passing Abigail and Mary, who was currently swinging her arms wildly, trying to hit her sister, who at the same time was holding a hand to Mary's forehead, keeping her far out of reach.

* * *

Once she reached the tree house, Shock was greeted by the sight of Lock, sitting on the sofa and watching television. Or, attempting to, seeing how the screen was all static from what she could see.

"Hey" the witch called to get his attention. Lock glanced at her for a brief moment in silence.

Recently, it had become very awkward for them to be in the same room alone together.

"Mind if I sit down?" she asked, nodding in the direction of the sofa.

Lock nodded, moving over slightly to give his best friend and girlfriend more room.

Shock took a seat next to him, holding Creep on her lap.

She loosened the blanket he was wrapped in, allowing the boy's rubbery tail to flick out and flail about.

The witch and the devil sat in silence, not looking at one another, save brief glances.

The only sound in the room were small grunts coming from the baby, who was now clutching his green blanket tightly with one hand, the only thing keeping it from falling to the floor.

Finally, it was Lock who spoke.

"So…how come I don't remember it" he questioned, glancing for a half-second at his son, then back at Shock, "Were we drunk or something?"

The question took Shock by surprise; she wasn't expecting him to ask. Okay, she did know he would ask about it eventually, but she thought it wouldn't be for a while.

She gave him a little half-smile as she lied, "Yeah…I guess we were".

No way could she tell him the truth, especially when she could barely believe it herself.

Far away from the tree house that Boogie's Boys resided, at the edge of Halloweentown, a young woman sat in a throne-like chair, holding a doll in her hand.

She poked the doll with a needle, chuckling slightly to herself.

Placing the doll on the arm of her chair, the young woman turned her head to a large crow with a crimson ribbon matching its bright eyes tied around its chest.

"Oh, Benito" she almost cooed, petting the bird with a green finger, "How boring it's been around here lately. I've already given that Witch the pain I had do endure when she replaced me….Now I have nothing to do".

The crow, Benito, blinked and let out a loud cry, his voice echoing throughout the building.

The green-skinned girl smiled softly at her pet.

"You're right, my dear. When the puppeteer is bored….she must watch her puppets dance" she said, grabbing a doll that somewhat resembled the Mayor of Halloweentown and walking out of the broken down cabin.

As she made her way towards the center of town, the young woman began to move the doll's limbs about, chuckling at the strange dance she had it perform.

* * *

Here we have Chapter 2. I'm not really happy with this one, but I figured it was better than nothing.

Comments are requested, but not demanded, so don't feel like I'll hate you if you don't comment.

Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, and Sally (C) Touchstone Pictures, Tim Burton, Henry Selick

Plot, Creep, Abigail, Mary, John, and Billy (C) Me


	5. Time Alone

Three months had passed since the birth of Creep, and things were starting to quiet down somewhat.

The baby was sleeping through the night for the most part; something Shock was extremely grateful for, seeing how she shared a room with the infant. It wasn't like she didn't expect him not to cry at all; some of the vague memories she had of her life before Halloweentown involved her baby brother crying for one reason or another.

But still, she was relieved when she finally got a full night's sleep, without Creep waking her up at some point to give him a bottle or change his diaper.

Still, something was worrying the witch somewhat. And that something was Lock.

The two of them had pretty much gone back to the way they were before Creep was born..with the exception of the fact that they actually had a baby.

Actually, the baby was part of the problem. Or, to be more specific, Lock's interaction with him was the problem.

Creep was three months old, and Lock had yet to hold him or even be in the same room alone with the kid.

He was the only person over the age of five who hadn't held the baby since he was born.

It was almost comical how the devil, who had always claimed to not be afraid of anything, seemed so against the idea of holding a infant boy.

At the same time, it was rather annoying. Shock had tried everything she could think of to get Lock to hold Creep, with no success. The only thing she hadn't tried was just leaving him alone with the baby….

A wicked smirk played upon the witch's lips.

* * *

"What?!" Lock shouted when his girlfriend told him what she want him to do.

"You can't be serious" he said with a frown as she nodded at him.

"It's not going to kill you to watch him for an hour" Shock insisted, nodding at the baby that was fast asleep in her arms.

The baby had gotten a little bigger in the past three months, and had gained some control of his arms and legs. But, not of his tail, which flicked around wildly as the child slept.

"Can't you just take him with you?" Lock practically pleaded as Shock placed Creep upon the old sofa.

The purple-haired witch sighed, placing a small cushion next to the baby to keep him from rolling off the couch.

She then turned to face Lock.

"Well, I could take him with me, but that would require waking him up. And we both know what a bad idea that is".

It was true, they did know it was a bad idea to wake Creep up.

For the most part, the boy was quiet, save for when he needed a feeding or changing. However, he could scream his lungs out if anyone tried to wake him up before he was ready, as Barrel found out a month after Shock had come back from the hospital.

"Besides," she continued, grabbing a few dull gold coins from a box as her pet scorpions scurried out as well, "It's not like you need to do anything hard. Just give him a bottle when he wakes up, and play with him a little. And, when I say play with him, that does include picking him up".

At the last statement, Lock shook his head.

His reaction garnered an annoyed sigh from Shock. Why the hell was he so against the idea of holding his own son?!

She asked him the question she'd been mentally asking herself for months, and almost laughed at his answer.

"I'd drop him" was all the red-haired demon was able to respond.

To Shock, the idea was simply hilarious. It was also ridiculous.

"Lock," Shock began, struggling to stifle her giggles, "You carried bags of candy heavier than him when you were ten. If you didn't drop those then, you're sure not going to drop him now".

With that, she headed out the door and into the elevator cage, leaving her boyfriend alone with the slumbering baby.

* * *

Not long after Shock left, Creep woke up crying.

Well, not exactly crying, more like squeaking.

It was still enough to cause Lock to begin to freak out.

Having never been left alone with the baby, he had no idea what he was supposed to do.

He struggled for several moments, trying to remember what Shock had told him.

Finally, he remembered what she'd said about the bottle.

Wanting to get the squeaking to stop before it could become a full-fledged wail, the devil went into the kitchen.

There was a small bottle of milk formula on the counter next to the microwave, which already had a time set on it for cooking.

Lock silently thanked Shock; at least she'd helped him out somewhat before she left.

He placed the bottle into the microwave, then hit the "start" button. Once the timer went off, Lock took the bottle out of the microwave and went back into the living room.

The moment he stepped into the living room, he was greeted by the sight of his son lying on the couch, with a rather large bug stuck halfway into his mouth.

"Creep! Get that outta your mouth" the devil cried, half in anger, half in fear as he went over to the couch.

He grabbed the body of the bug and pulled it out.

The bug chattered angrily at the adult, clicking the small mandibles to make the sound.

It then jumped out of Lock's hand, scurrying away as quickly as it could, obviously freaked out from the experience of having a toothless "human" clamp its jaws on its head.

Throughout all this, Creep just giggled, a high pitched, somewhat maniacal laughter that reminded Lock very much of the cackling Shock used to do.

Soon enough, however, the boy went back to whimpering.

Without really thinking about it, the red-head stuffed the nipple of the bottle into the baby's mouth.

Instantly, Creep stopped crying and began to greedily drink from the bottle (as if a baby can eat any other way).

He quickly finished the formula and spit the bottle out with a rather satisfied burp.

Lock placed the empty bottle on the floor before looking back at the now silent baby. He bit his tongue, remembering what Shock had said about playing with the baby. He knew he'd probably have to do if he didn't want the kid to start screaming again, but that didn't mean he wanted to do it!

Sighing, Lock finally grabbed the baby and picked him up. He held Creep from underneath the arms, with his own arms extended almost their full length.

There was silence in the room, save for the small clicks coming from the strange green-and-black bug who had taken refuge in the dustiest corner of the room.

After several moments, Lock finally spoke.

"I'm…not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do with you" he said to Creep, who simply made a small grunting noise and tilted his head back slightly, apparently the baby version of a shrug.

Lock placed Creep back onto the couch, propping him up slightly with a cushion. The baby turned his purple and yellow eyes up at his father, who returned the stare.

A second later, Creep flopped forward, smacking his forehead on the wooden floor.

"Oh shit!" Lock yelped as Creep began to scream.

He quickly picked up the baby, once again holding him at arm's length. There were no signs of injury on Creep. Despite this, he was screaming like he had a bleeding gash on his head.

"Please stop…" Lock pleaded, unable to think of anything else to do.

This was why he didn't want to watch the baby! He knew something bad would happen, but Shock just wouldn't listen to him!

He sat on the couch for a while, just hoping Creep would stop screaming.

Finally, just as the devil was sure he was going to go mad, the bug Creep had been trying to eat earlier apparently decided it would risk being eaten again and climbed on top of the child's head.

Almost instantly, Creep stopped smiling and looked up at the insect on his head.

Lock sighed in relief; at least now he didn't have to deal with a screaming three-month-old.

He looked at the bug, who seemed rather comfortable once he realized the baby couldn't try to eat him again.

The devil mouthed a thank-you to the insect.

Of course, he would later look back on this event and realize how pathetic he was for needing the assistance of a bug to take care of his baby, but he really didn't care.

* * *

"See, I leave him alone with you, and he's not dead" Shock said with a smirk as she placed Creep into his crib for the night.

Lock scowled slightly in response to her smirk.

She simply continued to grin at the look on his face.

"C'mon" she said, walking over to the devil. The witch grabbed her boyfriend's shoulder and gave him a slightly suggestive grin. "I'll make it up to you".

Lock's red-and-yellow eyes grew wide as he realized what she meant. Or, at least, what he thought she meant.

"You mean…" he said with a slight grin of his own.

She shrugged slightly in return, the smirk still on her face.

"Let's just get out of here, get on the couch, and see where it goes from there" Shock said.

Lock, of course , was very willing to go along with the witch's idea.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and stepped backwards, leading her out of the room.

As they stepped out of her bedroom, Shock reached behind her, closing the door behind them.

* * *

After a really freakin' long time (for my fans...I'm sure the people who don't like me think it's not long enough) I have finally updated my NBC fanfic. A little bit of good news, I am now working on a couple of oneshots about the lives of Lock, Shock, and Barrel before they died.

Yeah, I did take a bit of Lock's interaction with Creep from the Family Guy episode, Quagmire's Baby, but I love that part of the episode and had to pay tribute to it.

That bug will appear again. His name will be Buggy and he will be Creep's pet.

Barrel was actually at his girlfriend, Candy's house during all of this.

Nightmare Before Christmas (C) Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Touchstone Pictures

Plot, Creep, Buggy (C) Me


	6. Brother

"Please stop…" Lock practically pleaded with the four-month-old in his arms.

Of course, Creep was less than interested in doing what his father wanted, even if he did ask nicely.

He was starting to get his teeth, which for any baby is painful. But, it was even worse for Creep, considering his teeth were fangs, meaning even more pain for the poor boy.

Which, in turn, meant more misery for his parents, and Barrel; actually, Barrel shouldn't be included.

He was spending more and more time out of the house, usually with his girlfriend. Judging by his reaction to Creep's crying, it was clear that the dead-child would not be having sex anytime soon. He obviously didn't want to risk having to deal with this type of torture himself.

"I don't think just asking him to stop is going to do anything" Shock said, walking over to them.

She took the baby from her boyfriend (something Lock was very thankful for, though he wouldn't say so aloud), trying to keep Creep from chewing on the hook of his overalls.

In retaliation, the baby took a fistful of his mother's hair and pulled on it.

"Ow…okay, your screaming is torture enough; you don't have to pull my hair" Shock muttered, managing to pull her hair out of Creep's hand.

"You never mind when I pull your hair…then again, I'm not pulling the hair on your head" Lock responded with a slight smirk.

This comment gained the devil a sort of half-glare from the witch. Obviously he had yet to understand that sex-talk was not appropriate in front of an infant.

"Well, I'll be back sooner or later" she said, sighing as Creep began chewing on the sleeves of his dark green, long-sleeve shirt.

As if trying to avoid giving the baby another reason to start crying, the witch quickly stepped out the door.

* * *

There was a sign in the center of town, a dark grey wooden sign with peeling white letters.

It wasn't a very extraordinary sign…at least not based on appearance.

However, this sign was very special.

It had been created by the elder witches of Halloweentown, and, as such, had some magical properties.

The sign kept track of all the "immigrants" to Halloweentown; anyone who wasn't born into Halloweentown would be counted by the sign.

Usually, Shock didn't pay attention to the sign, unless the number went up. And, that just happened to be the case today.

Besides, it's very hard to ignore something when there are two young men sitting beneath it.

"Goddamn, Morty…what the hell happened?" questioned one of the men to his companion.

He was a fairly handsome young man; pale skin, short light blond hair, and light blue eyes.

His friend, apparently named Morty, was pretty much the exact opposite.

Morty's skin was very dark, his hair was long (well, shoulder-length) and black, and his eyes were dark brown.

"Maybe we should've gotten someone to drive us...especially after we chugged that liter of booze, Davis".

At the name Davis, Shock felt herself stiffen somewhat.

No wonder the blond kid looked somewhat familiar!

Before Shock died and came to Halloweentown, her last name was Davis. She'd had a little brother; one who looked just like this young man, just with slightly darker skin and hair.

She hadn't seen him in years, since she was fifteen and he was ten, so he'd obviously changed over the past nine years.

Still, she was almost completely sure that the blond boy was Ryan Davis.

Suddenly, Morty looked over to her.

"Look, Ry…That girl's staring at us. You know…she looks kinda like an older version of that girl in those pictures at your house".

Well, any doubt that the other boy was Ryan left Shock's mind.

Apparently her little brother had run into some trouble and gotten himself and his friend stuck here.

Apparently they also had a horrible concept of time, seeing how they were dressed like a vampire (Ryan) and a zombie (Morty).

It was February; Halloween had passed months ago.

Ryan stood up and walked over to her.

His friend followed shortly after, stumbling in the stereotypical zombie fashion.

"He's right" he said, tilting his head slightly, "You do look like my sister…just older".

"That's because I am your sister, you dumbass" Shock told him. She saw no need for being gentle about revealing who she was to him; better to just get it over with.

"Why the hell are you guys dressed like that, anyway? Halloween was months ago" she added.

The boys looked at each other before explaining. Apparently they had been on their way home from a costume party, they'd gotten drunk and crashed into a tree, and then they landed here in Halloweentown.

After Ryan and Morty told their story, it became oddly quiet.

After a few moments of silence, Creep started crying again.

Ryan looked down at the baby with a rather amused grin.

"Who is this?" he asked, as though he'd just noticed the drooling infant in his big sister's arms.

"This is my baby, Creep. Sorry about the drool and crying, but he's teething" Shock said, introducing her son and explaining away his bad attitude.

The vampire made a little amused sound, almost a chuckle, and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a candy and unwrapping it.

"Have a sucker, you little nipple-sucker" he said, popping a green-apple flavored ring pop into his nephews mouth.

Creep's eyes popped open when the candy was stuck into his mouth.

A moment later he began sucking on the ring pop like it was a pacifier, a very zoned out look on his face and his tail swishing back and forth.

"Thanks for getting him to shut-up" Shock said with slight smirk, sounding almost sarcastic.

Ryan returned the smirk, giving a fake bow. Obviously, these two still had some sibling chemistry, despite not properly speaking since Ryan was an infant.

They probably would have talked a little more, if they weren't interrupted.

The mayor came running towards the sign, putting on his happy face in order to greet the newcomers.

"How horrible to have you join our town of Halloween" the fat, two-faced bastard greeted Ryan and Morty, shaking their hands.

He quickly ushered them away, apparently intent on introducing them to the Skellington family.

With the boys gone and her baby no longer crying, Shock saw no real reason to stay, so she simply went home.

* * *

"I saw my brother today" Shock said out of nowhere while she and Lock were watching TV.

It was some kind of show where people made fools of themselves.

Lock enjoyed it more, but Shock had to admit it was kind of funny.

Creep was sitting on the floor, propped up by a cushion.

Next to him was the small little bug that he'd tried to eat last month, only it was quite a bit bigger now.

But, that could be attributed to the fact that it was eating a lot.

In fact, at this moment, the bug- who had been christened Buggy at some point- was actually eating the remains of the ring pop Ryan had given to Creep earlier.

And, by remains, I mean the rest of the candy and the ring itself.

He only stopped gnawing on the plastic when Creep grabbed onto his antenna and pulled on it.

"NIIIIIIIII" squealed Buggy, his eyes watering from the pain.

Creep simply gurgled in response to the bug's pained squeal.

"Ryan?" Lock asked, receiving a nod from the witch, "Nice to hear that…but why are you bringing it up?"

"Well, he's never really met you or Barrel. I just figured we might as well invite him and his friend over for a pizza or something".

The devil shrugged at the suggestion. He really didn't mind having his girlfriend's brother and his friend come over to eat a pizza, but he wasn't too excited about the idea.

"Great" Shock said with a slight grin, standing up. "Well, I'm gonna take a shower".

"Want me to join you?" Lock offered with a coy grin. He was answered by a smack upside the head and the witch walking away from him as he held his head in pain.

* * *

For all you people who have been waiting for chapter 4...well, here it is.

Ryan and Morty will play a slightly more important role in later chapters, this was really just to introduce them. Both the boys are nineteen-years-old.

Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, Barrel, Mayor (C) Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Touchstone Pictures

Plot, Creep, Buggy, Ryan, Morty (C) Me

Also, anyone interested in joining a Buggy Fan Club?


	7. Visit

"Bout time you invited me over, bitch" Ryan muttered to his sister as he stepped into the cage elevator that led to the tree house.

The witch narrowed her eyes at the teenager; she actually felt sorry for their mother if Ryan had always been like this.

She also wanted to punch him and tell him to shut his mouth, but decided against it.

He was her brother, after all, and she wanted to introduce him to Lock and Barrel. After the boys were introduced, she would introduce Ryan to her fist.

"Just try not to act like a complete idiot, okay?" Shock advised, gaining a nod from the blond vampire.

Deciding that the nod was good enough, the witch began pulling up the cage.

Apparently Ryan had some fear of heights, seeing how he clung to the walls of the cage and kept staring downwards as soon as the cage was more than ten feet off the ground.

Once they were level with the door of the tree house, Shock stepped out of the cage elevator; Ryan remained pressed against the perforated metal.

"What's wrong?" Shock asked her brother.

The boy finally looked up at his sister and asked how far off the ground they were.

"I don't know…about eighty feet, I guess" she responded with a shrug.

She had never really bothered to check how tall the tree was, or how far off the ground the tree house was. There just never was a reason for it.

Seeing that eighty feet was apparently too high for her acrophobic brother; the second he tried walking across the cage and it shook, he panicked.

He darted to his sister and clung onto her in sheer terror.

"Okay, you can let go now" Shock told Ryan after about twenty seconds.

Heat burned in the younger's face, making him look almost human. A second later, he released his older sibling with a meek apology.

Shock just smirked; her brother acting this way was almost…cute, adorable even.

It made her think of a baby, actually, the way he clung to the nearest person when he got scared. How she attributed this to a baby, she wasn't sure. She had never actually seen Creep when he was frightened by something, so of course she had never seen him cling to someone in fear.

"C'mon" she told him, walking towards the door.

As soon as they started moving, Ryan grabbed onto her arm.

Noticing the pressure on her arm, the witch looked at the vampire.

"How are you afraid of heights? You turn into a bat and fly, don't you?" she questioned, sounding genuinely confused.

He was quick to answer her.

"When I do go batty, I usually just ride on Morty's shoulder or in his pocket" he explained.

Deciding not to press the question (mostly because she had a feeling he wasn't going to explain how a bat could be acrophobic), Shock just nodded slightly, then walked to the door; Ryan just clung to her arm like he was afraid he was going to fall through the planks of wood that kept him from falling into the pit below him.

Inside, the boys were pretty much acting as they normally would.

Barrel was throwing chocolates into the air and trying to catch them in his mouth.

Of course, a majority of those chocolates landed on the floor.

Those were quickly eaten by Buggy, who was skittering back and forth between eating the chocolates and taking quick naps on the couch where Lock sat.

The devil was attempting to play a game on the trio's old Nintendo.

The key word here was "attempted".

And he was pretty much failing in his attempt.

The problem wasn't that he was bad at the game; he'd beaten it a million times before.

The issue was he was distracted from the screen, trying to keep his son from grabbing the controller.

Apparently, Creep wanted to control the fat man in the flying raccoon suit. Either that or he wanted to chew on the plastic controller.

"Baaa" the infant gurgled, attempted to crawl over his father's leg and grab the controller that was in his hands.

His attempts were thwarted by Lock putting up his arm and pushing the baby back slightly.

The devil glanced at the baby, who was still trying to grab for the controller.

"Why don't you just let him smash the buttons or something?" Barrel asked from his spot on the floor, a few feet away.

Buggy was next to him, picking up pieces of dust-covered chocolate with thin lines of silk that were sprayed from between his mandibles.

"I'm at the last world" Lock said, thinking that was good enough to explain why he was so adamant about keeping the Nintendo controller from Creep.

Unfortunately for him, his efforts did not seem to do much to discourage the infant, who simply tried reaching over his father's arm.

In an act of slight desperation, Lock threw his arm to the side.

He had meant to just nudge the eighteen-week-old a little, but he accidently put a little too much force into the push.

He ended up knocking Creep's hands out from under him, causing him to fall and hit his chin on his father's leg.

His violet-and-yellow eyes widened for a moment, then they began to water.

After a moment, the baby was screaming.

His sudden burst of volume made both his father and his "uncle" jump.

"Oh shit!" Lock yelped when Creep began to cry.

He didn't try to pick up the baby; even though he was less hesitant to hold his son, he still avoided picking up the baby when he was crying. Especially when he was the reason behind the crying.

"Nice job, Lock." Barrel said, his sarcasm clear in his voice as he covered his ears.

The bug next to him was apparently in a chocolate-induced coma, as he remained sleeping despite the crying.

Lucky for the two young men, they didn't have to deal with the crying for long.

A couple moments later, Shock came in with a blond-haired, pale-skinned boy clinging to her arm.

For a moment, Lock was about to ask his girlfriend why she had a guy hanging off her arm.

However, once he realized that the witch and the vampire looked a lot like each other, he figured that the boy was Ryan, the brother Shock had told him about a couple weeks ago.

"You can let go now" Shock informed her brother, who quickly flung himself to the ground, looking like he'd just gone to heaven.

The moment he heard his mother's voice, Creep stopped crying and began reaching for her.

The witch stepped over her brother and walked over to the couch where her baby and boyfriend were. She picked up Creep and set him on her lap, sitting down next to the devil.

"Heh….heh…heh…Sorry" Ryan said, getting to his feet.

He rubbed the back of his head, looking slightly ashamed.

A silence followed after his apology. In that silence, the nineteen-year-old went to the old recliner that was in the room and sat in it, putting one leg over the other.

Lock raised an eyebrow at the younger boy's actions.

"Hey, are you gay?" the devil asked.

Obviously he had never been taught the meaning of the word tact.

Ryan's pale cheeks turned red in response to the question.

Shock's response was to simply smack Lock upside the head.

"Don't ask him that, you asshole" she reprimanded.

The devil muttered angrily, somewhat embarrassed by being scolded by a girl who was two years his junior.

The rest of the meeting actually went fairly well.

Barrel and Lock were actually civil to Ryan, much to Shock's surprise.

She'd known them for years, and they always seemed to be jackasses to pretty much everyone.

There was an incident where Ryan nearly stepped on Buggy, causing the green-and-black roach-bug to make a clicking noise that sounded oddly like the word twat. Obviously the bug threw manners out the window when he was in danger.

The event made the vampire jump, terrified of the large bug that was scurrying around by his feet.

His nerves were calmed by Shock explaining that the insect was harmless.

Now, both Shock and Ryan were standing outside the small apartment that he shared with Morty.

Lock and Barrel had fallen asleep about an hour ago, which was why they hadn't come along.

Creep was also sleeping, but his mom figured it'd be smarter to take the baby with her, in case he woke up.

"I had a great time, sis" Ryan said with a grin before going into the apartment.

* * *

Poor Lock keeps making his son cry, doesn't he? He's still completely clueless.

In response to any questions if Ryan is gay: I dunno. It's none of my business.

Anyone who names the game Lock was playing gets a virtual cookie.

Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, Barrel (C) Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Touchstone Pictures, Disney

Creep, Buggy, Ryan, Plot (C) Me.


	8. Foreshadowing and Backshadowing

In the month and a half since Ryan was introduced to Lock and Barrel, a couple of things had happened.

Firstly, Barrel had finally decided to introduce his girlfriend, Candy, to his cohorts.

Apparently he was very afraid of how she would be treated by them, considering they had been dating for nearly four months by the time she was invited over.

To spite the ghoul's fears, however, the meeting actually went fairly well. At the very least, Lock didn't ask the young woman if she was a homosexual, though if he had, it would have been a very stupid question, considering the fact that she was dating Barrel at the time.

However, there was one thing that had bothered the two of them, and that was her appearance.

It wasn't that she was ugly. Far from it, actually. She was probably one of the more attractive girls in Halloweentown.

The problem was…she didn't look like she belonged in Halloweentown.

Almost everything, from her shoulder length wavy light brown hair, to her outfit (a short-sleeved yellow shirt, tan sweater unzipped just enough to show the shirt, and a brown skirt) seemed to suggest that she was human, rather than a creature of the holiday of horrors. Only her yellow skin and yellow eyes with cat-slit pupils seemed to betray this theory.

Even Candy had admitted, when asked, that she was unsure of exactly what she was.

* * *

The other event that had happened involved Creep.

Ever since the boy had entered the fifth month of his life, he seemed determined to become more mobile.

Not that he got very far at first.

He would manage to pull himself into the position to crawl, supporting his weight on his hands and knees. But, when he attempted to actually move, the arm that remained on the floor would always slide forward, bringing the rest Creep's upper body to the floor.

It went on this way for a full month.

Finally, shortly after turning six-months-old, he finally managed to begin crawling.

At first, he was a bit unstable, not used to the feeling of using his legs and arms for anything like this.

He'd used them for a lot of other things-grabbing his bottle, playing with Buggy, pulling on his Mama's hair, kicking his Dada in the stomach, and stealing Uncle Barrel's lollipops, but never did he use them to move.

Once he figured the basics of moving forward, and stopping when you wanted to stop, he decided to try actually crawling to a target.

Specifically, the grey box that his Dada wouldn't let him play with; the one that made little people in funny clothes that could jump really high and become bigger with mushrooms go inside of the TV.

Completely ignoring Buggy's chattering warning of "Watch yourself, you little booger", the newly mobile infant started to make his way to his target.

There was no one to stop him; his Mama and Dada were upstairs, playing some kind of game that involved Mama's bed making a lot of noise-probably jumping on it, and Uncle Barrel was looking for his lollipop, which had been stolen by the spiders that lived alongside the Trick-or-Treaters.

That meant he could get to the box and make the funny people come into the TV. Or, maybe he could make them come out of the box and into the tree house and play with him!

The idea of having a new friend who could do all the cool things that the funny people in the TV did made Creep excited and he began to crawl faster towards his goal.

Unfortunately, like all young children, the boy had a very short attention span.

A little more than halfway to the grey box, a small spider crawled upon his hand, its hairy legs tickling his soft flesh

Wanting to play with his funny little thing, he managed to get himself into a sitting position.

As he watched the spider dart away from the string of drool that dripped from his mouth to just above the tiny spider's body, his tail was swishing back and forth on the wooden floor.

It was at this moment that Barrel came into the room, happily licking his orange and black lollipop.

His eyes were closed, so he didn't see Creep in the middle of the floor until it was too late.

His large, dirty bare foot landed on the spade of the devil-witch child's tail.

Creep let out a whimper of pain, his eyes filling with unshed tears and his lip quivering.

A second later, the boy began to cry loudly, a cry of true pain.

Hearing his cries, Barrel quickly picked Creep up and tried to comfort him.

Creep didn't seem to notice him and simply continued to cry, drowning out the sounds from Shock's bedroom and gaining some angry screams from people walking past the tree house.

The lollipop in Barrel's hand began to melt, despite the cool temperatures of the Halloweentown air.

After Creep had been crying for nearly two minutes and the lollipop was little more than a black and orange puddle on the floor, Lock and Shock came into the room.

Their hair was a mess (more than usual), as were their clothes, making it clear that they had been in the middle of something shortly before coming up to see what was going to with their son.

"What did you do to him" Lock asked his younger friend as Shock took the baby into her arms.

Always comforted by his mother's touch, Creep almost instantly ceased in his wails.

"I guess I stepped on his tail or something" Barrel explained, still not having noticed his lollipop's transformed state. As he went to take a lick of the sweet, only to have his tongue hit nothing, Shock glanced down at Creep, who had decided the spider would be an excellent snack.

"Guess we're going to have to keep a better eye on you" she muttered, frowning slightly when the baby spit out the spider and the partially mashed arachnid landed on her neck.

She shifted Creep in her arms and grabbed a napkin that was speared upon a nail in the wall, using it to wipe the spider guts from her neck.

"I guess I might as well take him with me" the witch said, glancing at the baby, who was now using his tail as a flyswatter.

He wasn't doing a very good job, seeing how the spade of his tail never got any closer than a foot in front of any flies.

Buggy, meanwhile, was watching the rubbery purple tail swing back and forth like it was the greatest tennis match of all time.

"Take 'im where?" Lock asked Shock.

The witch responded quickly and with a bit of sarcasm. "Well, you two might be fine eating nothing but four-month-old candy, but I need some actual food".

She was right, of course. The old fridge and cupboards in the tree house were pretty much empty, and had been that way for nearly a week.

At this point, they had about a half-ton of candy that they had stolen from Jack and Sally's youngest son, Mark's first birthday party (though they were told to help themselves to the treats at the party), a half-loaf of moldy bread, some saltine crackers, peanut butter, and a bottle of milk that had long gone bad in the fridge.

"Why are you going to take him with you? Why not just leave him with us?" Lock questioned, to which Barrel added, "Yeah, we'd take care of him".

The witch said nothing to the devil and the ghoul.

Instead, she simply pointed to the purple and white stain on the couch, the result of the last time the boys were left home alone, and Lock and Barrel used Creep's projectile vomit to have some target practice.

After that, neither Lock nor Barrel tried to argue with Shock about leaving the baby with them.

* * *

"Hello" came a small squeaking voice, followed by a sniffle.

Before Shock could really figure out what was going on, she felt a small hand clasp hers.

"Hello, Mark" the witch said with a sigh.

The little rag-doll boy holding her hand was the sixteen-month-old son of Jack and Sally, Mark Cheney Skellington.

His skin was blue-grey, but a lot closer to grey. There were no eyeballs inside of his eye sockets, and that was probably for the best; if the boy had eyes, they'd probably itch all the time from the hair that hung into them. Mark's hair, styled in a wavy bowl-cut, was mostly red, but the tips were black. He was dressed in a red shirt, black overalls with a red teddy bear's head on them, and black and red sneakers. And, as always, his nose was running.

Shock didn't really have a problem with the kid…she just didn't like dealing with any kids with runny noses that didn't belong to her.

Thankfully, she was "saved" when Sally came over, followed by her older sons, the twins John and Billy.

"I'm so glad you found him. He ran off while we were picking out a dress for Abigail" Sally explained, sounding almost apologetic as she took her youngest son's hand from Shock.

The twins were fighting about…something; the topic kept changing, so it was hard to figure out what they were arguing about in the first place.

Sally gave her older sons the infamous "mother's glare", before leading her three boys away.

Creep, his chin resting on his mother's shoulder, waved goodbye to the Skellingtons as Shock walked towards the old bazaar.

* * *

After fifteen minutes of trying to carry the items she wanted to buy _and _Creep, who was apparently hell-bent on making this little shopping trip horrible, Shock was beginning to loose her patience.

The baby had been fine until she'd actually begun shopping, at which point, he began screaming bloody murder.

She tried to tune it out, but when the jar of pickled eye of newt she was looking at shattered (possibly due to the high-pitched tone of Creep's crying at the time), she lost her patience.

She placed Creep on the ground, at the base of a tree, and told him to "Stay", handing him a grape ring-pop to give him a reason to listen.

With her son now occupied with the candy, as well as some bugs that had scurried around his feet, Shock went back to her shopping.

Moments after she turned around, however, something happened that would make her regret her momentary lapse of common-sense when it came to parenting.

Two dark green arms reached down from the branches of the tree, grabbing the six-month-old around his middle and lifting him into the branches.

"So….you must be the result of my little trick on the witch" muttered the owner of the arms.

Creep looked up at the woman and smiled, still at the stage of life where he believed everyone was going to be his best friend and play with him.

The woman turned her pale green eyes to the baby again, looking past the hooked, crooked nose with the small wart at the tip.

"Maybe someday you'll be of some use to me….but for now, you're not really good for anything" she muttered, grabbing the boy's hand before he could grabbed her long, tangled black hair.

She looked up from Creep when she heard Shock crying her son's name, after having realized he had vanished from where she had left him.

The woman glanced at the baby again, before leaping to another tree that was nearby and lowering herself to the ground, making very sure that she was careful not to be seen.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you, little one. One day, you'll work for Aunty Badalaia. But, until that day comes, you enjoy your days of 'innocence'" she told him before placing him on the ground and disappearing back into the branches on the tree.

Creep looked up into the branches and waved "bye-bye" to his "Aunty Badalaia".

After a moment, he turned to the sound of his mother's almost frantic calling for him and began to crawl towards her.

Once he was near enough, the infant boy wrapped his chubby little arms around his mother's legs, giving out a squeal of delight.

And, as the witch lifted her baby boy, hugging him close and giving him soft kisses on his forehead that made him giggle in childish delight, Badalaia watched from the branches of the nearby tree, a smirk playing upon her lips.

"One day, you witch…one day….".

* * *

Disclaimer: The Nightmare Before Christmas and all characters created for that movie, such as Lock, Shock, Barrel and Sally are copyright of Tim Burton.

I have ownership of the plot of this story, as well as the characters of Mark, Creep, and Badalaia.

Mark's middle name is a referance to Lon Cheney Jr, if you couldn't tell.

This is the longest chapter I've ever written, so I'd enjoy and appreciate it, if you'd review.


	9. Sick Day

"Any idea what's wrong with him?" Lock questioned, looking at the eight-month-old.

His skin was sweaty and paler then ever.

The witch looked from her son to her boyfriend with a slight shrug.

"He's probably got a cold or something. Probably got it when _someone _left the window open when it was raining" she said, giving the devil a rather harsh glare.

She then walked over to Creep, who was rubbing his nose on his palm.

The boy quickly wiped the goo onto his mother's dress when she lifted him out of the cage that served as a type of playpen.

Shock groaned softly. No matter how many of his diapers she changed or how many times she'd wiped his nose, she had to admit that Creep always found some way to tickle her gag reflex. He was a lot like Lock that way.

"Well," she said to the baby with a slight sigh, "I guess I'll just have to take you with me".

She had been planning to go look for some plants and other ingredients that she could use in her potions.

Many of the plants looked very similar, so Shock was hoping to not have any distractions while she searched for them.

And then, Lock left the window of Creep's room wide open, on one of the rainiest nights of the year.

She had planned to leave the boy in the care of his father while she went on her errands. Now, her plans were changed.

Lock had definitely improved when it came to parental chores (though he avoided changing diapers like the plague if he could get away with it), but a baby with a cold was a bit more difficult to deal with than one without.

Not that Shock was looking forward to carrying a cranky infant around with her all day.

She just knew that if she left the baby with Lock, one of them would probably be dead by the time she returned.

However, before she actually went out the door, she turned to her boyfriend.

"If he pukes on himself while we're gone, you're the one giving him a bath when we get home".

With that, she stepped outside, leaving a slack-jawed devil in her wake.

* * *

Lock scowled as the yanked the bar of soap away from the baby who was about to take another bite out of it.

He really should have expected this when Shock told him that he'd have to clean the baby if he threw up on himself. In fact, he really suspected that she had planned this.

The fact that she'd instantly gone into her room after handing Creep over didn't do much to prove his suspicions false.

A giggle caused Lock to look at his son with a frown.

"Don't laugh. There's nothing funny about this" he told the eight-month-old, who simply giggled again.

Lock sighed. "I shouldn't be angry at you because your mom's making me clean your vomit".

With a slight smile, he ran the tips of his fingers over his baby's stomach.

Creep giggled for a bit, before making a small sound that sounded a bit like a mix between a gurgle and a hiccup.

The sound itself wasn't really much to notice; what accompanied it was.

The devil pulled his arm away, giving a soft cry of disgust. His forearm, from his wrist to halfway to his elbow, was covered in putrid smelling, somewhat sparkly vomit.

Creep simply giggled again as his father went to the rusty old sink to wash off the vomit on his arm.

The baby cooed softly, grabbing the bar of soap that Lock had dropped into the tub as he whipped around. He took a bite out of soap as he watched his father rinse off the regurgitated slugs, like he was eating a chocolate bar while viewing a very interesting movie.

* * *

"Babies puke, Lock, and they don't usually care what or who they do it on" the witch told the devil, not looking at him.

She was occupied with attempting to feed the baby.

Creep was obviously recovering from his cold, considering the energy he was showing currently. Unfortunately, a majority of that energy was being put into knocking the spoon of mashed pumpkin out of his mother's hand.

Buggy was sitting on the floor next to his master, eating any of the orange mush that hit the floor. If there was one thing Buggy was good for, it was cleaning food off the ground.

After several moments, and about five spoonfuls of orange mush lost to the floor and Buggy's three-and-a-half stomachs, Shock finally lost her patience.

She grabbed Creep's hands and held them together, pressing them to the ground.

"Mmmmmmmmmmm" Creep whined, trying in vain to lift his hand from the ground.

He struggled for a few more minutes before finally giving up, though he did look like his mother had betrayed him as she fed him the smashed pumpkins.

And he still managed to keep a bit of defiance by occasionally allowing globs of orange goo of come out of his mouth like toothpaste out of the tube.

Not that it bothered Shock all that much; after eight months, she was more than used to the constant spitting up and spitting out that Creep did whenever she tried to feed him. As long as something got in his stomach, she had no issue with how dirty he or the floor got. She usually ended up giving him a bath after dinner (which was always the messiest) and Buggy handled the floor.

So, considering that the boy had a cold and was much less agreeable than usual (an amazing feat for the troublesome lad), this particular feeding was very much a success in Shock's eyes.

* * *

"Finally, he's asleep" the witch muttered, sighing slightly.

For the last two hours, she had struggled to get her baby to sleep.

She'd tried anything she could think of, besides drugging him, to get him to sleep. And she was just about to try the drugging option when he finally fell asleep, seemingly with no effort from her.

"So….what are we going to do now?" Lock asked, wrapping his arms around her, just underneath her breasts.

His lips were curved into a devilish smirk.

The witch grabbed him by the wrists, unwrapping his arms.

"I'm going to bed" she told him, leaving the room.

"What about me?" the devil called to his girlfriend in slight disbelief.

From the hall, she answered, "You can go to bed too".

Lock sighed angrily; he wasn't exactly hoping that he'd be able to go to bed.

Buggy made a small trilling noise, sounding slightly like laughter. He clicked his mandibles together, the sound he made sounding a bit like "cock-blocked".

Lock growled softly, whacking the bug on the shelled back with the spade of his tail.

While Buggy rubbed his back, groaning softly, the devil went into his own room.

* * *

Do I have to say how much I love Buggy?

Also, I do have to feel sorry for Lock...first his baby barfs on him and then he got denied sex from his girlfriend. Though, maybe he did deserve it.

This story is not going to be too much longer...maybe 3-4 chapters at the most. Then I'm going to work on something with Jack and Sally and their children.

Lock, Shock, NBC (C) Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Disney, Touchstone Pictures

Creep, Buggy, Plot (C) Me


	10. A Day With the Skellingtons

Jack was interrupted from his diagram of the exploding jack-o-lantern filled with rabid bats by the sound of the doorbell.

Normally, Sally would answer the door, but since Jack was already in the room, he chose to do so. And he was surprised to find Shock standing outside the door.

In her arms was nine-month old Creep, who was holding a green-and-black bug in his arms.

Jack was unsure of what to say; he wasn't expecting Shock to be on his doorstep at all, let alone with her son.

"Sally told me to come over at any time. Sorry that I didn't call, but someone chewed through our telephone wires" the witch said, glancing at the bug in Creep's arms.

The insect clicked its mandibles together, blinking tiredly.

Jack was still unsure of how to respond.

Thankfully, Sally came in from scolding the girls about fighting over trivial things like whether dresses were proper clothes for Mary. She nodded a greeting to Shock, then turned to Jack.

"Remember, Jack? I told you about how I talked to Shock a while ago? How I told her we'd been willing to take care of Creep for a day, so she and Lock could be alone?".

Jack nodded, though he honestly hadn't remembered agreeing to that.

While the former henchmen of Oogie Boogie were nowhere near as bad as they used to be, they were still some of the most disliked people in all of Halloweentown.

Then again, how bad could one baby be? The boy seemed fairly relaxed, from what Jack could see.

He watched as Shock handed Creep over to Sally, along with a paper bag which she said had bottles, diapers, clothes, and some other things for the baby.

The witch bid goodbye to the baby, causing him to start whimpering.

Creep opened his mouth to wail, but it was instantly plugged by a grape-flavored ring-pop.

"Oh, and one more thing" Shock said to the king and queen, "Whatever you do, don't make Creep cry. Bad things happen when he cries".

With that, she closed the door behind her.

Jack once again looked at the child in his wife's arms.

He hadn't seen the boy since he was about eight weeks old. He would not likely forget that day.

The Mayor had come knocking on his door, claiming that Boogie's Boys had resorted to kidnapping again, and this time, they'd kidnapped an actual baby.

Jack had gone to the tree house, mostly in order to calm the two-faced man's fears. And, he had been surprised when he heard the cries of an infant child.

He grabbed his skeleton key (a family heirloom, passed onto him by his father, King Jeremiah-there was a family tradition of the first-born son in the Skellington family having a name starting with a J) and entered the lair of Lock, Shock, and Barrel.

The three former trick-or-treaters didn't seem to notice him; Barrel was playing a video game, Lock was drinking a beer, and Shock was nowhere to be found.

The first one of Boogie's Boys he bumped into was Shock, who was holding a small bundle against her chest.

Jack assumed that the bundle was candy…at least, until it moved.

The bundle wiggled slightly, making slightly agitated sounded.

It was at this moment that Shock finally noticed Jack was in the room and he was finally able to confront her about the Mayor's suspicions that they had kidnapped a baby.

Shock seemed to struggle with her words as she tried to explain. She told him that the baby was hers and Lock's, and that he had been born approximately two months prior.

Jack remembered John and Billy telling him about how they'd seen Shock with a baby about two months ago, but still was unable to believe it. Even now, he was having a hard time believing it.

In order to prove that her story was true, Shock pulled down the blanket to reveal the baby's face.

Jack could have sworn the lower half of his jaw snapped off and hit the floor; he was so shocked by what he saw. The baby actually did look like a combination of the witch and the devil, there was no denying it. He actually stuttered when he questioned Shock about the baby; he was that taken aback by his discovery.

He asked Shock about how this had happened.

She told him something about a drunken romp between her and Lock a few months back.

The way she was stumbling over her words, avoiding eye contact made the skeleton king know she was lying, but at the same time, something made him feel like he should press into the matter.

He simply nodded and climbed out of the tree house, his skull still swimming with the new information he had to process.

Now he was staring at the child again, once again puzzled because of him.

Shock had said not to make Creep cry, or else bad things would happen.

Now, Jack knew from experience that a baby crying was not a pleasant experience, but he'd never heard of a bad thing happening just because a baby cried.

Creep stared at the strange skeleton man who stood in front of him while he sucked on the pacifier-shaped candy in his mouth.

(My God….I'm totally boned).

* * *

"What are you sucking on, little guy?" John asked Creep, who was leaning against a cushion.

Jack had to return to planning for Halloween, and Sally was getting Mark up from his nap.

She had left Abigail in charge of watching over Creep, but the fifteen-year-old was a bit to preoccupied by her romance-horror novel, and thus had no problem allowing her younger brother "help" her babysit.

The baby blinked and continued to suck on the pacifier-looking object in his mouth, occasionally patting the green-and-black insect that was lying over his feet.

The bug itself would occasionally make noises that sounded like a mix between a firecracker going off and a cat's purr.

"Can I see it?" the one-eyed skeleton asked in a baby voice, grabbing the ring of the pop.

(Seeing things does not involve touching them, numbskull) Creep whined in protest.

"I'd suggest you stop it" Billy warned, obviously catching onto the infant's displeasure.

His brother simply waved him out and pulled the grape-flavored candy out of the baby's mouth.

Creep began to whimper before releasing a high-pitched wail.

John fell backwards, causing his eye to pop out of its socket.

"My eye! I can't see!" he screamed, understandably panicked about his sudden lack of sight.

Unlike Abigail and Mark, who had been born with empty eye-sockets, John needed to have his eye in order to see. So, when his eye popped out, he was blinded.

If anything good came out of his current state, it was the fact that Creep had stopped crying, choosing instead to laugh at the misery of the ring-pop thief.

Billy grabbed the eye from the ground and handed it back to his twin.

"Thanks Billy-Al" John thanked his brother.

The younger of the two sighed; he hated the nickname his brother bestowed upon him, but he was unable to keep John from referring to him as Billy-Al.

"What happened out here? Why were you screaming?" Sally asked as she came into the room, holding Mark, who was rubbing his eye-socket's tiredly.

The skeleton-boy rubbed the back of his skull, unsure if he wanted to tell his mother about losing his eye. Because then he'd have to explain how he'd tormented the baby.

"The bug spit some silk in my eye" he lied.

Buggy clicked his mandibles angrily at the skeleton, very displeased at being blamed for something he did not do.

Sally asked her eldest son if he'd like something for his eye, but he turned her down, saying he'd be fine.

"Alright…" Sally said, before telling the three elder children to get washed for dinner.

The two ragdoll children nodded and went to wash up almost as soon as she told them to, but John lingered ever so slightly.

"Do they ever feed him?" Mary wondered aloud as she watched Creep shovel another handful of cockroach pudding into his mouth.

At first, the baby had simply been drinking a bottle, but that quickly lost his interest once he saw Mark sitting a few feet away from him.

Leaving the bottle on the floor, he crawled over to the elder boy to see what he was eating. And, once he saw the light brown goo, he decided he wanted some, even pulling on Mark's hair to try and steal the food.

It wasn't long before Sally came to break apart the two boys.

Unfortunately, as soon as she lifted Creep off the ground in order to keep him from harassing Mark, he began to wail.

Sally felt the stitches in her arm begin to loosen, so she handed Creep to Abigail, who was sitting nearby, so she could tighten them.

Once her stitches were tightened, the ragdoll woman got a small bowl of pudding for Creep.

At first, she'd tried feeding him with a spoon. However, as soon as he tasted the roach pudding, he began to simply use his hands, shoveling handful after handful into his mouth. Though, plenty of the goop also got on his face, his clothes, and the floor-Buggy was quick to slurp up that.

"I doubt he'd be alive if they never fed him, Mary Lenore" Abigail told her younger, tomboyish sister.

Mary stood on her chair so she could stare her sister in the "eye"-Mary was the shortest of the Skellington children, besides Mark-and slammed her hands, palms down, on the table.

"My name is just Mary, Abigail. You don't have to call me Mary Lenore all the time. And I was just kidding; I'm not stupid, you know" he informed her sister.

John muttered something about the last bit, and ended up on the receiving end of a glare from his father for the comment.

Sally touched Mary's shoulder, trying to calm her somewhat hotheaded daughter.

The raven-haired girl sat again, but she still kept a cold gaze on her sister.

After a few moments, she returned to her salad.

The rest of the meal passed without a sound.

* * *

Not long after dinner was finished, Sally decided it was time to put the little ones down for the night.

There was only one crib, which Mark normally slept in.

Sally decided that Mark could sleep on the mattress that the Skellingtons kept for when their older children had friends over.

However, when she placed Creep into the crib, Mark was quick to protest.

"My crib" the red-haired boy whined, pointing a cloth finger at the aforementioned item.

Sally knelt down to her son's level. She'd learned from Abigail, Mary, and the twins that children tended to listen more if she would look them in the eye, and even more if she actually got down to look at them.

"I know you want to sleep in your crib, my darling, but there isn't enough room for you and the baby, and the baby needs the crib a bit more. Can you be a big boy and sleep on the mat for tonight?" she asked him in a gentle voice.

Mark may have been a baby, but he was fairly smart for his age.

He seemed to consider what his mother was saying, before nodding.

Sally praised her son for his choice and gave him a kiss between his eye-sockets.

She then placed him on the mattress, tucked him in, and went to join Jack in the parlor for a cup of tea and some gingersnaps before they, and the older children, also went to bed.

* * *

Yeah, Creep's kinda like Poof from Fairly Oddparents. When he gets upset enough to cry, bad things happen to whoever upset him.

Also, these two lines: My God...I'm totally boned and Seeing things does not involve touching them, numbskull are Creep's thoughts.

NBC, Jack, Sally, Shock (C) Tim Burton, Touchstone Pictures, Disney, Henry Selick

Plot, Creep, Buggy, Mark, Abigail, Mary, John, Billy (C) Me 


	11. Penultimatium

The closer he got to his first birthday, the more difficult it seemed Creep was becoming.

Not only was he crying for no good reason at times, which would sometimes result in broken light bulbs, glitches during game play, and other misfortunes for whoever caused the tantrum, but he was also learning another way to express his feelings.

And that was through his teeth.

If you did something to make him angry, and there was something within mouth's reach, you'd get a set of small, but strong, fangs stuck into your skin.

Thankfully, his parents, and "uncle" had learned a way to retaliate against the biting.

If he bit them, they squeezed his arm. It wasn't enough to really hurt him, but it was enough that he would hopefully get the message that you don't bite people. Though, the message was taking a long time to sink in.

In fact, Barrel was desperately trying to pry Creep's mouth off his hand, when the rattling of the cage-elevator was heard.

"Hey Barrel" said Ryan, stepping into the tree house, pulling a zombie with dark skin, shoulder length black hair tied back by a rubber band, and dark brown eyes. The skin on his bare arms was missing, as was some skin on his forehead, revealing the white of his skull.

As he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, he lifted up the left-side of his tang-top, revealing missing flesh from right above his hip to his armpit.

Hearing his uncle's voice, Creep instantly let go of Barrel's hand and started to crawl towards him.

"Well, look at you" Ryan said, in the voice one usually uses when they want to praise a baby.

He leaned down as Creep reached him, picking the ten-month-old up.

Barrel took this opportunity to go into the bathroom and bandage his bleeding hand.

As he made his way into the bathroom, he passed Lock and Shock.

They were in the devil's room, making out on his bed, her sitting on his lap.

He told them that Ryan and some zombie were in the "living room", and then made his way into the bathroom.

* * *

"Do you really have to smoke that? I want to properly introduce you to my sister and her friends, and you just_ have _to smoke."

This was the first thing the devil and the witch heard as they entered the "living room".

Ryan glared at his comrade, who was nonchalantly smoking a cigarette.

The zombie rolled his eyes, then spat out the cigarette. It landed on the floor and was quickly eaten by Buggy.

"Hey" Ryan said with a smile, grabbing Morty's hand and leading him over to his sister and her boyfriend.

Creep was still in his uncle's arms, nipping slightly on the blonde's chin.

"Knock that off" Shock told her child, squeezing his shoulder slightly.

The ten-month-old babbled angrily at the squeeze, but ceased in his biting.

To make sure her little brother didn't get bitten again, Shock took Creep from Ryan.

"Thanks." He said with a grin, before nodding at the zombie by his side. "This….is my boyfriend, Morty. Morty….you've already met Shock and Creep."

Ryan nodded at the devil, then at the skeleton impersonator as he introduced them.

"This is Lock, and Barrel."

Barrel simply nodded, still rubbing his sore, pierced hand. The bandage he had wrapped around it was already stained with greenish-blue blood.

Lock, on the other hand, smirked slightly at Shock.

"Told you he was gay" he taunted her, getting a slap to the back of the head for his troubles.

While Ryan stood blushing, Morty only shrugged and sat on the old, tattered sofa, pulling a rolled up comic book from his back pocket. The cover was yellow, save for a black bat in the center, underneath blue letters that read BATMAN.

Creep started small grunting noises, twisting in Shock's arms, like he was trying to get away.

"Bring him over here." Morty said, pointing at his lap, not looking up from his comic.

After a moment's hesitation, the witch placed the young child on the lap of her brother's boyfriend.

The green-skinned devil-boy twisted on the zombie's lap so he could look at the book in Morty's hands.

He grunted once again, the sound of a baby trying to get attention without actually crying and pointed at a picture.

It was the image of a young woman in a skintight red and black jester outfit and white face paint.

As if able to understand the grunts and small cries coming from the ten-month-old on his lap, Morty explained that the jester woman was named Harley Quinn.

"Harley Kin?" Creep questioned, after struggling for several moments to make the words come out, even if he couldn't pronounce the surname of the jester-henchwoman correctly.

Not waiting for an answer, or maybe not expecting one, he simply turned his attention back to the comic. He stared at the image of Harley Quinn, until Morty turned the page to read on.

"Ack!" Creep protested, biting Morty on the arm, his teeth digging in deep, but drawing no blood.

"Creep!" Shock yelled, shaking her head before turning to Morty. "Just pinch him. That'll make him let go."

"Nah, it's fine. I can't feel any pain, anyway." The Zombie informed, still reading the comic.

Apparently not pleased at the lack of reaction his biting was getting, Creep decided to change his strategy. He twisted on Morty's lap, pulled himself into a standing position by leaning on the zombie's chest, and bit onto his earlobe.

There was still no reaction, so Creep pulled more.

A particularly strong tug caused Morty's ear to simply tear away from the rest of his head.

Creep fell over, the ear still in his mouth.

He stared at the hole in his "uncle's" head for several seconds with wide eyes.

Once he got over the shock of having ripped someone's ear off their head, the child completely freaked out.

He scrambled on Morty's lap, trying to get away.

Unfortunately, he apparently forgot he was on the couch, and crawled over the arm, falling off and banging his head on the wooden floor.

There was a bit of blood coming from his temple, but that didn't seem to bother Creep too much. He stumble-crawled over to Shock, burying his face in her shoulder when she picked him up.

Shock pulled the ear out of her son's mouth, throwing it over to Morty.

The zombie pulled a bottle of super-glue out of his pocket, using it to reattach his ear, though he put it on somewhat lopsided.

Shock then carried Creep into the bathroom to clean the wound on his temple.

* * *

About an hour later, everyone was sitting around after having eaten a large pepperoni and cockroach pizza that had been leftover from two nights ago.

Morty had put a movie into the PlayStation 2, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and was holding Creep on his lap again.

The baby was less than pleased with his current seat, though he stopped his squirming as soon as the movie started.

He seemed completely enamored by the bright colors of the room where everything was candy.

However, his childlike joy was replaced by childish terror and possibly confusion when the scene changed to the owner of the factory, the five children, and their parents went through a dark tunnel with disturbing images on the wall.

"Huh?" Creep cooed questioningly, tilting his head like he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing on the screen.

At the sight of a chicken being decapitated, he upchucked, splattered half-digested pizza, milk, and candy corn onto his clothes and the floor.

"You got a weak stomach, don't you, Bugger?" Morty asked Creep, causing Buggy, who was lapping up the mess on the floor, to look up and click his mandibles like he was offended.

The bug spat a glop of sticky grey goo from between his mandibles, right onto the forehead of the zombie.

While Morty attempted to pry the goop off, with help from Ryan, Buggy scurried onto Morty's lap and began licking the vomit from Creep's shirt.

To prevent his child from getting knocked to the floor and possibly cracking his head again, Lock grabbed Creep off the lap of his zombie "uncle".

Creep seemed completely fine with the transfer, and simply turned his attention back to the film. Now that the characters were out of the tunnel of hell, he seemed completely fine with what he was viewing.

* * *

"Really, thanks so much for having us. I hope we weren't any trouble" Ryan said to his sister and her boyfriend as he and Morty were preparing to leave.

"Well, you weren't" Shock said, looking at Morty pointedly.

It wasn't so much that she was angry with the zombie. She was just annoyed that he'd tormented her infant child.

Even if she tried not to show it too much, she didn't like it when someone else messed with Creep.

Creep was in Ryan's arms, happily sucking on a ring-pop that his vampire-uncle had popped into his mouth.

He occasionally pulled the drool and tooth-mark-covered confection out of his mouth and allowed Buggy, who was dangling over his shoulder, to lick it.

Morty pulled the comic book out of his back pocket, and offered it to Creep.

"No hard feelings, right?" he asked.

Creep blinked his yellow-and-violet eyes at Morty, before popping the candy back into his mouth, and roughly pulling the Batman book from the zombie's grasp.

"I'll take that as a yes" Morty said with a slight smirk.

Ryan chuckled slightly, then handed his nephew over to his mother. Then, both the undead young men climbed into the elevator-style cage and lowed themselves down to the ground.

With the two of them being gone, and Barrel having passed out into a pizza-induced coma, Lock and Shock found themselves alone. It was already past midnight.

"Well," the witch began, gently rubbing the small gash on her son's temple with a fingertip, "I'm going to bed."

With a smirk, Lock asked, "Mind if I join you?"

She answered, saying she didn't mind…as long as he kept it in his pants. The devil shrugged; that was good enough for him.

So, while Shock brought Creep into his room to get him to bed, Lock went into her room.

A few minutes later, the couple was laying beside each other, each in a fairly deep sleep.

Occasionally, the devil's tail would snake up the witch's dark violet nightgown, only for the owner of the appendage to get a knee in a most delicate of places.

After a while, the attempted "tailing" ceased and the two were able to simply sleep, their bodies pressed against each other.

* * *

I don't not own any copyrighted materials seen in this chapter. Of course, those of you who've been reading since the beginning should know this by now.

Nightmare Before Christmas, Lock, Shock, and Barrel belong to Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Touchstone Pictures, and Disney

Batman and Harley Quinn belong to DC Comics and Warner Brothers

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory belongs to Paramount Pictures, based on Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"

Plot, Creep, Buggy, Ryan, and Morty belong to Me

Well, here's the penultimate chapter. The next chapter will be the last of this story.

Now, I have to ask if anyone finds Morty's treatment of Creep familiar: holding him still and forcing him to watch a moment in a film that obviously freaks the kid out? Well, if you do, it's because you had a relative like Morty. You know, the uncle or cousin or whatever who would tell you that the movie was fine and you wouldn't be scared, but as soon as you started getting scared, they forced you to watch it. I had a cousin like this, who literally dragged me into the room where we were watching "IT" after I, as a five-year-old, ran out of the room. Thanks to him and that film, I still have a fear of clowns and, for a year, I was afraid that Tim Curry would come out of my shower-drain.


	12. Finale

"C'mon, Shock, I'll take care of him. It won't even be for that long. I'll just take him for a little walk on the outskirts of town and get him something to eat and bring him right home. Now, please can I babysit him?"

Shock raised an eyebrow at her little brother's pleas.

The vampire had been practically begging to spend time alone with his nephew since the little demon's first birthday three months prior. Now it appeared he'd advanced to actual begging.

It was pathetic, but at the same time, it was kind of sweet. The first came from the fact that begging was always sort of pathetic, no matter who was doing it. The second probably came from the fact that Ryan's face still showed signs of childhood, despite him being considered an adult by legal standards.

Shock sighed; she knew her brother had grown up knowing how to break the women in his life. Being raised by a single mother had taught him at least that much.

"Fine" she said, holding up a finger at his grin, "But if you're not back in two hours, I'm going to come looking for you. And don't like him near Morty. Last time Morty talked to Creep it took me five hours to get him to stop screaming the names of female genitalia."

The blond nodded and gave his elder sister a mock salute, which she took as a solemn oath. Of course, for the twenty-year-old, it was the closest he would get to placing his hand on a bible.

Shock echoed the nod and exited the room to retrieve her son and prepare him for the day's extrusion.

Fifteen minutes later, she came back with a very irate toddler in her arms.

Creep was clearly annoyed at having been woken up from what must have been a very pleasant nap. He mumbled under his breath, a word that sounded very similar to "Shut-up".

He rubbed his eyes with one hand while holding Buggy in the crook of his other arm.

The roachbug clicked his mandibles together softly, apparently his version of mumbling. It was too difficult to understand what he was trying to say.

"Buggy's got to stay here, Creep" Shock told her son in an almost apologetic tone as she pried his pet out of his grasp.

Almost immediately, the fifteen-month-old began to scream, ranting in the jargon of early childhood at the injustice that his mother had dealt upon him.

His anger was quickly forgotten, however, once Ryan pulled out a small bag from his coat pocket, pulling out a piece of the contents and offering it to his nephew.

Seeing his favorite candy being offered to him instantly calmed the child and he lost all interest in trying to take Buggy with him.

"Remember, keep him away from Morty" the witch called to her brother as he stepped into the cage-elevator with Creep-who was sucking on the ring-pop like it was some sort of a lifeline.

* * *

Ryan had lost track of time as he strolled along the outskirts of Halloween Town, a sleepy toddler resting in his arms.

Not wanting to keep his young nephew awake if he was truly that tired, the vampire began to sing softly. The song he chose was not what most people would choose for a lullaby.

"_And this is for the ones who stood their ground_

_For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down _

_Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake _

_Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own-" _

At the sound of snoring, he looked down at Creep. The baby's eyelids were closed and he occasionally let out small sighs of contentment, his tail flicking back and forth like a dog's.

Ryan smiled and loosened his hold on the child.

As though he sensed the action, Creep clutched onto his uncle's shirt tightly.

The blond froze up as he felt a fingernail jab into his shoulder, followed by a familiar voice asking, "You ever think about buying a watch?"

He jumped slightly, grabbing the little boy in his arms roughly, before whipping around to face his sister. For a moment, he was terrified of what she was going to do, but his expression slowly changed to a nervous smile. The witch looked slightly annoyed at her brother, but not angry.

"Sorry, I guess I lost track of time and…" the young Mr. Davis explained to his sister, rubbing the back of his neck.

He paused in the explanation as he felt Creep squirming in his loose grip, before finally squirming out of his grasp and climbing over his shoulder.

The child fell to the ground with a dull thud, but didn't seem affected by the fall.

Creep quickly scrambled to his feet and began to run away from the two adults, heading towards the nearby woods.

It took approximately half-a-second before the siblings realized what had just happened. Once the moment passed, Shock gave her brother a look that clearly stated that her son getting hurt would sign his death warrant.

The two of them then followed after the toddler, freezing once they noticed exactly where he had run to.

Creep paused in front of a large troll, his yellow-and-violet eyes fixated on the large, fat creature.

The troll was very large, being more than half as tall as the nearby trees, despite being seated. His head was very small and his stomach was bulbous.

The small boy sneezed suddenly, alerting the huge beast to his presence.

The troll gave a grunt and looked downward, tilting his head slightly.

Shock felt her body tense up and energy begin to gather in her clenched fists as the gray, lumpy-skinned troll reached a fat hand towards her child.

However, her muscles relaxed about a second later.

Creep had grabbed onto the troll's index and ring-finger and actually begun swinging the half-ton beast over his head like it was nothing more than a ragdoll.

And, while the child gave out cries of delight, and the troll made noises like it was going to be sick, the witch and the vampire were unable to do anything other than stare at each other in disbelief.

* * *

Barrel glanced at his two friends as Lock stroked Shock's tangled violet hair.

The witch and the devil were lying on the couch, her back pressed against his front. The two of them were mostly clothed, though Shock was missing her stockings and one of the straps of her dress was pulled down and Lock had pull off his belt and his shirt.

Barrel had the sneaking suspicion that his comrades would be changing their state of dress as soon as he left the room. The very thought was enough to make him not want to leave them alone.

"You know, the staring is actually pretty creepy" Lock said suddenly, looking at his ghoulish friend.

Barrel's pale cheeks turned scarlet and he quickly turned away, his gaze turning onto Buggy. The bug was already half-asleep, only remaining awake to lick off the dark brown goo that was smeared onto his legs, mandibles, and back, Creep's dinner from two hours ago. Creep himself had been put to bed approximately a half-hour ago and hadn't made a sound since then.

Ten minutes passed in which none of the people (or insects) in the room made any sound.

Finally, Buggy managed to lick off a bit of pudding that was smeared onto the area on his back that was right behind his head.

With his meal finished, the bug was quick to scramble out of the "living room" and towards Creep's bedroom, where he also slept.

Barrel turned his attention to his friends once again. Shock's eyes were closed and Lock was rubbing her shoulders slightly.

The devil quickly turned his gaze upon the ghoul, giving him a look that clearly indicated he wanted his friend to follow Buggy's example.

Barrel's wide mouth turned down in a frown before he left the room, mumbling something about his housemates being just like rabbits as he did so.

Once the youngest member of the trio was gone, the devil turned his attention back to his girlfriend.

"Hey, Shock" he said, shaking her shoulder slightly. When she didn't respond, he frowned and shook her more roughly. "C'mon, Shock, no one falls asleep that fast".

A quiet, almost inaudible grunt was her only response to his comment, showing she heard him but was trying to pretend she had not.

In response to her attempt to ignore him, Lock smirked in his typical devilish fashion, before beginning to gently bite and suck on the side of her neck.

Shock gave a small moan, but kept her eyes shut.

After several moments, however, she opened her violet eyes and looked over her shoulder to face him.

The two lovers looked at each other in silence for a moment or two, before the purple-eyed witch slowly reached peeled off her dark dress, leaving her in her dark violet, lace-trimmed undergarments.

She climbed off the sofa, allowing her boyfriend to slink out of his pants.

The article of clothing quickly joined her dress on the floor, as the devil pulled on a small lever that transformed the couch into what looked like a hybrid of a sofa and a bed.

Grabbing a thin blanket that had large holes in it, Shock climbed onto the sofa-bed, once again pressing her body against Lock's.

Almost instantly, the redheaded devil pressed his lips against hers, running one hand down her side, while the other reached behind her, reaching for the clasp of her bra.

* * *

Creep's eyes popped open at the sound of Buggy scuttling into his bedroom, squeezing his way inside by squirming underneath the door.

The toddler quickly changed his position from lying down to sitting, turning to look at the insect.

"Buggy!" he cried in a soft voice, his voice almost seeming to crack from the odd mixture of whisper and screaming.

Buggy jumped slightly, darting his eyes around as though he expected someone to grab him. Once he realized where the sound had come from, the roachbug relaxed.

He climbed up one of the legs of the crib, then over the railing, landing on the mattress with a very soft thump. He had landed on his back, so he had to swing his legs slightly to right himself.

Once he was back on his feet, however, Buggy scrambled towards Creep.

The toddler laughed as the bug climbed up his back, coming to rest on top of his head, his front-most legs hanging over Creep's "horns".

Creep reached his hand up and gently patted Buggy's side.

His attention was then caught by a small stuffed toy that sat upon the dresser by his crib, a birthday gift from Uncle Ryan. The toy looked like a werewolf in the midst of its transformation.

An idea came to the young boy as his eyes lit up. He got to his feet and slowly inched towards the toy, still somewhat unsteady on terrain that was not mostly flat.

Slowly, but surely, he was able to grab the odd-looking stuffed "animal" and pull the toy into the crib.

Once he had the toy in his hands, Creep plopped onto his behind, grabbing the head of the semi-transformed human in one hand.

He tore the head off the doll, sending pieces of cotton onto the sheets and his lap. Buggy, who was now resting on the dresser, where the toy had previously resided, was confused.

"_What did you do that for?" _he clicked questioningly.

Creep held up the beheaded stuffed animal, as though he was offering it to his friend.

"Bed" he said, as though that one word explained his reasoning for destroying a new toy.

Buggy stared at the baby in confusion, before he realized what the child meant.

He quickly jumped back onto Creep's head, causing the child to fall back slightly from the force of impact, before jumping onto the beheaded plushy. He then climbed into the opening that had been created when Creep tore off the head, snuggling into the stuffing as though it was a thick blanket that was wrapped around him.

The insect soon began to fall asleep, his large black-and-green eyes blinking slowly to signal his tiredness.

Seeing his "pet" starting to fall asleep, Creep decided to follow along.

He lay down once again, placing the stuffed semi-werewolf by his side before popping his green-tinged thumb into his mouth and closing his eyes, placing his other hand on top of Buggy's "bed" as he fell asleep, the bug following suit.

* * *

Disclaimer: I would say I own Nightmare Before Christmas, and Lock and Shock and Barrel. Unfortunately, I'm not Tim Burton or Henry Selick. Nor do I work at Disney or Touchstone Pictures. The song Ryan sings to Creep is, of course _It's My Life_ by Bon Jovi. That is owned by Bon Jovi. I do own Creep, Buggy, and Ryan, however, as well as the plot to this story. Now, to end this disclaimer for the last chapter of my first official Nightmare Before Christmas, I would like to quote my new favorite anime, _Axis Powers Hetalia; _"Hasta la Pasta!"

Yes, this is the very last chapter of this story. However, it's not the last time you will see these characters. I will be writing a sequel, eventually. I love these characters just as much as you all do…or at least, I hope you love them.

The scene with the troll was somewhat inspired by a scene in episode 40 of Hetalia, where Baby!America performs a similar task, but with a buffalo instead of a troll.


End file.
